Air quality by country
Air quality in New Zealand today
Updated
Good: average US AQI 21 across 10 cities Worst now: New Plymouth (30); cleanest: Stoke (13).
Live US AQI, PM2.5 and ozone for cities across New Zealand, ranked from most polluted to cleanest.
- Average US AQI
- 21 Good
- Most polluted now
- New Plymouth AQI 30
- Cleanest now
- Stoke AQI 13
- Cities above 100
- 0 unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse
Air quality in New Zealand today
Right now the modelled air quality in New Zealand averages a US AQI of 21 (Good) across the 10 cities we track. By category: 10 Good (of 10).
That is 45 points better than the worldwide average of 66 across 3,556 cities.
New Plymouth has the worst air at 30 with PM2.5 at 6.3 µg/m³, while Stoke is cleanest at 13. No tracked city is above 100, the level where sensitive groups are advised to cut back outdoors.
New Zealand cities by AQI (most polluted first)
| City | Region | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ | Ozone µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Plymouth | Taranaki Region | 30 | Good | 6.3 | 54 |
| Auckland | Auckland | 27 | Good | 4.4 | 53 |
| Manukau City | Auckland | 27 | Good | 4.4 | 53 |
| Wellington | Wellington Region | 24 | Good | 3 | 54 |
| Dunedin | Otago | 22 | Good | 0.1 | 47 |
| Christchurch | Canterbury | 18 | Good | 0.4 | 47 |
| Hamilton, Waikato Region | Waikato Region | 18 | Good | 3.1 | 43 |
| Hastings, Hawke's Bay Region | Hawke's Bay Region | 18 | Good | 1.9 | 39 |
| Nelson | Nelson Region | 13 | Good | 1.4 | 42 |
| Stoke | Nelson Region | 13 | Good | 1.4 | 42 |
What the US AQI numbers mean
| US AQI | Category | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0-50 | Good | Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. |
| 51-100 | Moderate | Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 101-150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 151-200 | Unhealthy | Everyone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed. |
| 201-300 | Very Unhealthy | Health alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors. |
| 301-500 | Hazardous | Emergency conditions: everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity and stay indoors with filtered air if possible. The scale tops out at 500; heavier dust or smoke is shown as 500. |
Modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) via Open-Meteo, refreshed twice a day; read hour by hour from the forecast.
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Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).